Williams, Jazz cool off red-hot Trail Blazers

SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- Twice bitten in the last three weeks
already, the Utah Jazz weren't about to let the Portland Trail
Blazers get by them a third time.

On the last day of a dreadful month for the team, the Jazz put
at least one foot in the right direction, avenging two earlier
defeats with a decisive 111-101 victory over the surging Blazers
on Monday.

Deron Williams scored 18 points and dished out eight assists and
Carlos Boozer added 19 points and nine rebounds to lead six
Jazz players in double figures as the club closed out the
calendar year on a high note to get back over the .500 mark at
17-16.

"It's a great way to end the year. Thank God December's over,"
Boozer said. "We're looking forward to January."

With his club merely treading water against its Northwest
Division rivals, the point guard Williams took the challenge
head-on midway through the third quarter and came out on top,
scoring all 10 points in a 10-3 run that turned a four-point
deficit into a 74-71 advantage.

"I just tried to be a little more aggressive than I was in the
first half scoring the ball," Williams said. "Definitely when
you look up and see the lead slip away, it goes into your mind
that you need to be a little more aggressive."

Williams' explosive surge was the catalyst for a 17-6 run that
pushed the Jazz's lead to double digits late in the period.

The Blazers didn't go away in the final quarter, but unlike
recent weeks in which the Jazz have consistently relinquished
fourth-quarter leads and failed to get key defensive stops down
the stretch Utah didn't fold this time.

Portland pulled to within striking distance on several
occasions, but rare was the occasion when the Jazz didn't have
an answer.

"That's something we've lacked those responses," Williams said.
"I think we did a good job of finishing out the ballgame,
closing out the ballgame."

After Brandon Roy's driving layup pulled the Blazers to within
four at 89-85 early in the fourth, Andrei Kirilenko back in the
lineup after missing one game with a strained bicep buried a
3-pointer to quell Portland's surging momentum.

Utah's lead was sliced to three just 1 1/2 minutes later, but
Kirilenko found an open Kyle Korver under the basket for a
three-point play.

"I just think we played with confidence tonight. When we got
that lead, we sustained it," Jazz forward Matt Harpring said.
"We didn't have the turnovers, we didn't have the mental
mistakes to let them back into the game."

With less than five minutes to play, Korver - making his Jazz
debut after getting traded from Philadelphia for Gordan Giricek
and a first-round pick - was on the receiving end of another
heads-up pass, as Williams grabbed a miss by Martell Webster and
launched a full-court heave to Korver for an easy layup and a
101-91 lead with 4:43 to go.

"That's what I try to do is try and bring energy," Korver said.
"I'm not out there trying to seek out my own shots. I'm trying
to play within the system. We've got a bunch of great players
here, I'm just trying to fit in."

The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Blazers, the
longest such streak in the NBA this season. The team's top two
scorers did their part, as LaMarcus Aldridge scored 36 points on
12-of-17 shooting and Roy added 17, including nine in the final
period.

"A lot of people didn't expect (the winning streak). We just
approached it one game at a time," Roy said. "That's going to
be the way we're going to approach things now. ... It was a
great run, but it's over with, and now we've got a taste of
success so we want to continue."

The struggling Jazz, who have just three home losses on the
season, including one to Portland and one just two days ago to
the league-best Boston Celtics, defended home court this time
around.

The first two meetings between the Jazz and Blazers were just as
heated, and appropriately epitomized the contrasting directions
the two clubs took during the season's grueling second month.

Portland dealt Utah just its second home loss of the season on
December 11 behind 25 points from Webster and defensive pressure
that held Williams to just 4-of-15 shooting.

"The biggest problem we had when we played this team two times
before is they zoned us in the fourth quarter and we couldn't
make shots," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "Fortunately we made a
few tonight and stayed in the ballgame."

Three days later in Portland, the Blazers thwarted the Jazz's
chance at revenge, dominating the fourth quarter to rally for a
99-91 win.

The loss was Utah's sixth in a row, part of a brutal stretch in
which the team dropped 11 of 14, suddenly slipping from Western
Conference contender to pushover in a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile Portland, an afterthought after starting the season
5-12, moved into a surprising first-place tie in the Northwest.